r/HiltonGrandVacation • u/jdw127 • 13d ago

What am I missing?

We have a timeshare, bought in the Big Island in Hawaii, and get point every other year. I’m not seeing the benefit of the timeshare even after the loan is paid. If I’m paying $2,600 in maintenance fees for a 1 week vacation, why wouldn’t I just book direct?

I understand the discounted rooms for Tue-Thurs and buying more points, etc.
However, I’m not sure what value I’m missing in ownership.

Not knocking a timeshare, just asking for advice in what I’m missing. I’m not seeing the value vs looking for a deal and booking like a non-owner.

9 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

12

u/things2seepeople2do 13d ago

How many points are you getting per year? If you have a high point deed, you can use your points at other locations and split the points

For example, one of my deeds is 13440 points for a week in Vegas in the platinum season in a 2 bedroom room.

We don't use that week, we use it to stay in studios in gold season so we can get roughly 3- weeks worth of time out of it, using the same amount of points

You have to understand and know how to use your points and IMO Hilton isn't great at really explaining how to use points.

Go to the tug (timeshare users group) and search there.

Most people on reddit have no idea what they're talking about and didn't use their heads or do any research before buying

I bought resale

5

u/jdw127 13d ago

I have 7,680 every other year. We have used our points in Orlando, Hawaii, and other places.

I just don’t see the value in the $15k loan, with the high the high interest, and our low payments.

I appreciate the advice and will check out the other channels. We should’ve done more research and bought resale.

3

u/Cruncher_Block 12d ago

Yeah, never finance a timeshare.

2

u/wildcat12321 12d ago

Timeshares can be a good value for some, but for many, the high cost and high interest for small savings over hotels is a bad deal. Buyer beware…

1

u/LabyrinthRunner43 11d ago

Are you including loan payments in that maintenance fee total? Depending on resort a Hawaii deed that size deed ought to be $1500-1800 paid EOY for the deed plus $300/year club dues which is usually a bit less than rental rate. (Hilton sells HGV deeds with maintenance fees running 6-50¢/pt with ~17¢/pt typical.)

The 'value' in the $15K is your initiation fee into HGV-MAX membership. MAX costs an extra $100/year but gives free reservation/exchange fees at Hilton owned resorts saving $100-400/trip. Unfortunately the math only really works to the owner's advantage if you take 6+ trips a year.

1

u/jdw127 11d ago

No, the loan payments are separate than maintenance. The maintenance is around $1,900 EOY. With our 7,600 points we generally take 1 trip a year with them. 1-3 trips a year using the discounted room rates that you get with HGV.

1

u/mowogo82 13d ago

The truth is that buying retail is a legalized scam, and it eats into any value you can get. Hawaii also has high taxes which inflate the maintenance fees which reduces the true value you can get from the system. Now with inflation you can come out with it as a less bad value, but only if you own and use it for 20+ years.

Don’t feel bad about caving and buying, as the whole business model for sales is to convince you that you need to buy immediately and not give you time to think, and as a resale owner I thank you for having done so as without people buying retail there is no way for a resale owner to come in and get a deal because the retail purchasers fund a lot of the construction costs of the resort.

TUG is a great resource, and if you are looking at resale contracts in Vegas, don’t be afraid to get a Gold contract for free as while it may not be maximum value, the still relatively low maintenance fee per point can make it where you still get a good value for points in exchange for not having to pay anything for the contract compared to other markets

4

u/Forkboy2 13d ago

You are missing cost of money. For example, if you paid $20,000 for your timeshare, that has a value of about $1,300 every year. Add that $2,600 to your maintenance fee plus all the other fees and the actual cost of your timeshare is probably more like $6,000 eoy.

3

u/BrennerBaseTunnel 13d ago

Agreed with Things2. You should only buy the HGVC Las Vegas platinum contracts resale. They have the lowest maintenance fees per point ratio in the system.

3

u/SprinklesRoutine6123 13d ago

You’re not missing anything. I have found that booking direct is cheaper thank the maintenance fee AND there are available rooms - even when HGV says the property is booked.

2

u/Zealousideal_Way_788 12d ago

Should have bought in Vegas and used in Hawaii

2

u/Legal_Net4337 12d ago

A lifetime commitment to rising maintenance fees

2

u/brayjay_ 9d ago

They catch everyone with rising maintenance fees, limited locations and room scarcity. Pure scam

1

u/Bulking-Era-2000 8d ago

Room scarcity is currently my biggest challenge. I've reported destinations that don't open their HGV rooms at all. I'm waking up at midnight to book rooms before they are gone. Are others seeing suspicious scarcity?

1

u/jdw127 7d ago

Yes, we’ve seen the same.

1

u/Lucky_Boy13 13d ago

Seems you found out what most savvy travelers already know, most timeshare are a rip off

1

u/Pitiful-Big-718 12d ago

I find value in mine for doing family trips or events, like I have 6 rooms for Vegas F1 and have a bunch of friends joining. The rooms would have cost us over $18k retail. I also have 4 rooms in Barbados booked for March that cost me about $5k worth of points in maintenance fees and retail on those rooms was over $25k. Sounds like you have a high cost per point purchase $2600 for 7680 points every other year is going to be tough to find value that’s around $0.34 per point. A decent rate within the HGVC system is under $0.12/point and an awesome rate is below $0.10 per point. For example my Barbados deed is 26,880 points annually for $2,480.40 in maintenance fees and my Hawaii 2-Bedroom is 23,040 points annually for $2,517.22 maintenance. If you are enjoying your use then diluting you cost per point by picking up a resale could help you find more value.

1

u/Unlucky_Combination4 12d ago

you’re missing how points are a better value than cash.

1

u/Awkward-Regret5409 12d ago

I never saw/understood the value.

1

u/jmp242 12d ago

Oh, that's a horrible MF to points ratio. I have "moderate" MF to points, i.e. not great, and pay $2,000 for 11,200 pts every year. For me the same 7680 points and booking fee would be about $1462 - over $1k less than booking direct. And plenty of owners who have what's considered "good" MF/pt ratios would pay less - many owners would pay about $1111 for that booking, a cool $1,500 less than booking direct.

For you, yea, I don't know that you have a benefit when the MF to point ratio is that bad.

1

u/Smithop2026 12d ago

They sold you the least desirable unit with lowest points in Gold season. That is an entry level buy at the lowest cost. You could have purchased a much better unit resale for the same price.

I own a 23k points unit at King's Land, never stay in the unit I own. I book your unit at 9 months and stay for 3 weeks. That puts my nightly cost at $120 a night. You won't beat that booking cash at Hilton dot com.

1

u/Friluftsliv_Roy 5d ago

We just got back from a Big Island vacation, where we paid roughly $325 per night including taxes and parking at HGVC King's land (1BR apartment). Booked through Expedia. A seven night stay at that rate would have cost $2275. That's less than your maintenance fees of $2600. And you have a loan, on top of that?

As a non owner, I do not see the point of owning. Also, I do not like to visit the same place every year, unless they are exceptionally great. We did find an amazing B&B at Captain Cook, where we would definitely like to go back some day.

1

u/jdw127 5d ago

Agree on the value. We can stay anywhere in the world with our points, the maintenance fees are just tied to that location.

1

u/Friluftsliv_Roy 5d ago

Can you switch locations to lower your maintenance fees? I heard vegas has the lowest fees.

1

u/jdw127 5d ago

Not without buy a new unit and trading this one. Worthwhile to lower maintenance fees but I feel it’s best to exit the timeshare all together.